This is hard core Barkley stuff. I've made no attempt to

explain things that you couldn't possibly understand unless

you've been to Barkley, or read a course description and

anything else you can find on the subject.

Someone suggested that there should be a Barkley glossary.

Maybe I'll work on one sometime. For example, and abandoned

railroad bed is a place in the forest where you can sight a

line of trees that are all less than fifty years old.

It's very long report, but as Mark Williams says, it's a

long race.

Barkley 1998, by Fred Vance

I was the second person to show up for Barkley. When I

arrived on Tuesday, John DeWalt was camped across from my

campsite and had been there since Sunday. I was in too much

of a hurry to talk much because I had a lofty goal of doing

a counter-clockwise (CCW) loop segment to Coffin Spring. It

was 11PM before camp was set and I struck out for the

Chimney Top Trail.

After searching every "funky forked tree" I could find

around the Chimney Top capstone, I convinced myself that

Gary Cantrell (GC) had not put that book out yet. So I took

a compass reading and started off down Big Hell to find a

hollow beech tree near the confluence of the Beech Fork and

Low Gap Hollow (forks and hollows are creeks). I found at

least six hollow beech trees in the vicinity of the two

creeks, all on top of what appeared to me to be the correct

"50 foot-high earth bank", but none of them had a book

inside.

After several hours of searching around the Beech Fork, I

gave up and was about to ascend Zip Line when I realized

that it was getting late and I needed to return to camp. On

the way back up Big Hell, climbing the 50 foot-high earth

bank for about the fourth time, I noticed a young beech

tree over near the edge of the bank and decided to take a

closer look at it. It was hollow, and by golly, someone had

put a baseball cap in the hollow. I felt like a toddler

finding his first Easter Egg, when I lifted the cap and

found a book inside two ziplock bags. I opened the bags and

read the title, _Temporary Insanity_. If I had any doubt

that it was Gary's book, that clinched it.

After carefully putting the book back the way it was, I

headed up Big Hell. As I reached the top, I realized that I

was near a small capstone twenty or thirty yards from the

big capstone on the Chimney Top Trail. I almost passed by

it, but then I thought that maybe the "funky forked tree"

is there. After staring up at the trees for a few moments,

something shiny caught my eye about knee level ten feet

from me. It was a ziplock bag tied to a tiny shrub-like

"tree". Wow, two books in one day. I was on a streak!

Back at camp, seven and a one-half hours had passed, and I

was beginning to despair of finding all the books before

Barkley '98 began. I saw John and invited him to have

spaghetti with me. Over dinner, I told John I planned to

start at Indian Rock and work CCW as far as I could. He

said that he wanted to do a CCW loop too, but didn't have

the water to make it. I told him that I had a filter pump

and would bring it along. Although I wasn't interested in

doing Big Hell again, I figured it wouldn't hurt

So Wednesday morning, the two of us set out on CTT a

little before 8 AM. When we got to the bottom of Little

Hell, we were walking along a level stretch through a stand

of pine, when John suddenly stopped and grinned at me. I

said, "What?" and he replied, "I just wanted to see if you

could find it?" It was then that I remember that we should

be looking for the rock wall near some concrete pilings on

an old railroad bed. I didn't see a RR bed, I didn't see

any concrete pilings, I couldn't see the New River,

although I could hear it, and I didn't see any rock wall.

Looking closer, I noticed that the moss-covered bank that

we were standing next to was a pile of flat stones stacked

on top of each other. Well that was the rock wall, and in

it was another book, _Shadows Out of Hell_.

John tested me again from Coffin Spring to the Garden

Spot. I didn't do too well at picking the correct roads at

the two intersections. These roads were not on the Frozen

Head State Park map or on the USGS topographical charts,

although the abandoned trail was. And of course, the roads

were much more evident that the abandoned trail.

It was sunset when we finally reached Phillips Creek, and

found that someone had taken the book from there. We

returned to camp after dark, twelve and one-half hours, for

one CCW loop minus Rat's Jaw, about 17 miles. It was too

late to fool with cooking, so I drove us in to the little

town of Hariman, 20 miles away where we had pizza just

before closing time.

Thursday should have been a day off for rest, but I had to

go see Rat's Jaw and find the only book I hadn't seen, at

the Guard Tower. Before I left, Mike Dobies and his friend

Sue had arrived and were planning to look over Big Hell and

Zip Line. John offered to drive them to the Beech Fork jeep

road so they would have to waste time on the easy CTT. I

was going to drive to Armes Pass on Hwy 116, so I offered

to take them.

I walked up the Lookout Tower Road from Armes Pass, and

went down Rat's Jaw. By the time I returned to camp later

that day, Mike and Sue were just returning. I invited them

to another spaghetti dinner with John. Mike brought some

home brewed beers. We sampled his Barkley Bitter, Rat Jaw

Pale Ale and Coal Pond Stout. I like the first two, but

refer to the latter as Coal Pond Scum. I had a great time

and was very happy knowing that I had the good fortune to

have completed an entire loop prior to my first Barkley,

and still had a day to rest before the event started. John

had made it all possible by showing me the way through the

loop on Wednesday. That really took a lot of pressure off

me.

On Friday, everybody began to show up. Blake Wood's

parents had set up camp above me the day before and now he

had arrived and stopped over to say hello. I don't know

where most of the day went, but it began to rain in the

evening. By then my parents and sister and friend from

Hariman had all arrived and were standing around in the

rain. I threw my running gear in the vehicle I was driving,

and followed them all back to Hariman to have dinner.

I missed the famous Barkley Barbecue Chicken Dinner, and

finished packing my five (yes five) loop bags in a motel

room. I almost stayed the night at the motel, but knew I

would be able to sleep soundly if I were out of hearing

range of the Barkley Bugler for Reveille. I returned

shortly before midnight, and fretted a little about not

getting the course description for fear it might have

something new in it.

First thing, Saturday morning, I found Gary, and

officially registered and got my copy of the course

description. The only change was the addition of a new book

at the bottom of Leonard's Butt Slide at the Log Structure.

John had pointed it out to me on Wednesday.

I was pleased with my racing number, 77. I thought it had

to be lucky and was surprised that Gary even bothered with

race numbers. It was only afterwards, that I learned that

Fred Pilon and I were both number 77. I was impressed with

Jim Dill's number 1, until I learned that John DeWalt had

number 0. Wow! You can't beat that without being negative.

I didn't see the starting cigarette lit. (I heard later

that it was a cigar anyway, courtesy of Suzi Shearer.) I

was two or three minutes late to the starting line, the

yellow gate. I vied with Jim Dill for last place going up

the road to the Bird Mt. Trail.

Jim and I passed a couple of runners, Doug Barrows and Bill

Andrews maybe? We caught up with John DeWalt (JD). I was

using my lap counter function to count the switchbacks. I

found an abandoned trail leading off to the left after 13,

and assuming that I had missed one count, I managed to talk

John and Jim (both Barkley veterans) into following me (a

first timer) off on the old trail. They were too busy

talking. The two runners behind us didn't take the bait, in

spite of my yelling back to them to do so.

After 20 or 30 yards, John and Jim realized their mistake

and turned back. Rather than turn back, I ascended

cross-country to the trail above and found myself with the

two runners whom I had previously passed. John and Jim were

in last place, thanks to me. I didn't wait for them and

proceeded down Bird Mt. (BM).

For a while going down BM, I was behind Matt Mahoney. At

the bottom of BM, Greg Shoener was handing out pages to a

group of about four of runners. He seemed in no hurry to

start up Jury Ridge. In the early flat switchbacks above

Phillip's Creek, I passed Matt and another runner by

cutting the switchbacks. I promised Stuart Gleman (I think)

that I wouldn't do it again and I think he thought I was

serious.

I passed a couple of runners at SOB ditch and caught

another two or three runners near the Coal Ponds in the

Strip Mine area. I believe Debra Moore, Merianne Brittain,

Bill Johnson, and possibly Leonard Martin were in with this

group.

I was looking for John Dewalt's trail above the Coal Ponds

(CP), but somehow missed the marker, two large stones

stacked with a long log on top. I followed a runner with

black hair and a ponytail (one of the Brasingtons?). We

were following the ridge of tailings below the CP through

an area thick with saplings and tangled vines. At the first

opportunity, I crossed the line of CP on a marshy section

and headed cross-country uphill to the west. It was foggy,

but I could see enough of the strip mine to know that it

was curving north, so I knew I was ascending in the correct

place.

I didn't bother trying to find the switchbacks up to the

Garden Spot. I left the other runner behind in the fog when

I crossed the marshy area. I could hear runners calling to

each other in the fog of the CP below me.

I had no trouble finding book two, but going down hill

toward Coffin Spring (CS), I didn't recognize the

intersection of the CS road, and trail. The old road down

from book two merges into a good road from the strip mine

area to Stallion Mt. (SM).

I missed the narrow down hill trail extending from the apex

of a hairpin in the SM road, that after passing a pit,

widens into a mine road. Instead, I went along an abandoned

road just to the right and above the correct path. As I

proceeded along this road, it became less distinct, and I

realized that I was not on the road that I remembered

following from CS on Wednesday before the start. I saw

boundary markers and the blaze of the old BMT, so I felt

that the trail would take me to CS, but I didn't feel good

about exploring new routes during the race.

As I headed back to the SM road, I met Bill Johnson. He had

taken the same route that I was on. We had a short

discussion and went back to try to find a better road to

CS. We met Merianne at the hairpin, and had another brief

discussion before the three of us continued along SM road,

looking for the turnoff to CS.

At some point, we realized that we were on SM and felt that

we were paralleling Coal Road (CR). Bill suggested cutting

cross-country down the mountain to arrive at CR and

bypassing CS. I had a filter pump with me to get water from

the Barley Mouth since we would miss the water drop at CS.

It was cool enough that we were not using much water and

didn't need to stop after all.

The next road down the mountain was not CR, but another

strip mine road bounded by a pond. Not knowing where the

strip mine road might lead, and not able to cross the mine

pond, we followed the road in the direction of CS and

entered the wooded area below CS to follow a stream to

Blake's Meadow (the start of the CR).

Back on course, we caught up with Matt's group near Bobcat

Rock, so we hadn't lost much time. Descending Leonard's

Butt Slide (LBS), I met "the" Leonard Martin, but he wasn't

sliding on his butt. At the bottom of LBS, Dale Sutton was

waiting, unable to find the log structure that he was

standing beside. (It really didn't look much like a log

structure although it was). Almost down, Leonard began to

pull out his course description, and I told him, I knew

where the log structure and book three were.

I left the log structure first, with Dale behind me. After

crossing the New River, I waited long enough to make sure

that Dale found the crossing. He caught up with me at the

"stockades", (a stack of flat rocks with moss on them along

the side of a small bank, very easy to miss if someone like

John DeWalt hasn't shown it to you before). We climbed

Little Hell together. I don't recall ever seeing the old

prison mine trail, except maybe on the ridge at the top

that Gary C. calls Sawbrier Point.

At the top of Little Hell, I thought we met Eliza McClean

and Buddy Brasington, but I must have heard their names

wrong, it must have been Leslie Hunt and Kerry Trammell.

Leslie? wasn't feeling well, so I offered her one of Karl

King's electrolyte caps. I don't know if it helped. I left

Dale with them and headed down to the guard tower at the

bottom of Rat's Jaw. I passed Debra Moore and Tom Bennet. I

think I passed Suzi Shearer (nee Thibeaux) before Rat's Jaw

although I had passed her earlier before going off course

on SM.

Fog shrouded Rat's Jaw, making the hard climb tolerable.

Near the top, I made loud noises and cursed, but no one was

at Lookout Tower to appreciate my performance. I had

imagined that Gary might be up there to see how badly

beaten we might be as we climbed up onto the road.

I was alone from Lookout Tower until Indian Rock. For some

reason, I climbed up to the capstones and passed over to

the opposite side before the trail did. I thought I heard

voices. I found the rat's nest book easily and sat down on

a rock outside the capstone crack to work on my Aquifer's

drinking tube.

At Lookout Tower, the CLIP mixed with water had gelled in

the bladder's exit tube preventing me from drinking. While

working on this, Andrew Thompson and his friend, John

Basham?, went by me commenting that I had gone right over

them. A minute or two later they came back by and entered

the crack in the capstone. When they came out, I apologized

for not telling them where the book was. I had been to

preoccupied with my task and for some reason assumed that

they knew where it was or had already retrieved their

pages.

Andrew and his friend followed me down Zip Line. I stayed

left using John DeWalt's route to avoid the worst part of

the briers and picked up an old trail south of Beech Fork.

We quickly arrived at the jeep road and made a beeline to

the hollow beech book.

The three of us were together to the Chimney Top book, but

on the way down CTT, I ran with Andrew on my heels and his

friend dropped behind. Near the bottom of CTT, Andrew and I

overtook a group of about four runners. I told them they

were having too much fun as we passed, because they were

carrying on a conversation and laughing.

I ran the uphill from CTT to the yellow gate and Andrew

matched my pace. I was a little surprised to find that JD

was already in for loop one. He left on loop two before I

did, but I caught up with him just before Phillips Creek

and book one. I was surprised to find him so soon.

The sun was setting going up Jury Ridge. We spent the night

together going slowly because of the difficulty of the

North Section at night. The night was uneventful if slow.

Down LBS, I dropped my bullet-proof flash light and it

quit on me. I threw it down in disgust, and it came on only

to turn off when I picked it up again. My AA backup flash

light lasted only two hours instead of the four hours I got

when I tested it. Maybe because I changed the bulb, or

because the temperature was lower?

JD was using his headlamp and gave me his extra AA

batteries. Zip Line and Big Hell would have been an

interesting challenge without a flashlight. Probably not as

bad as finding my way to Lamb's Canyon aid station without

a light at Wasatch.

Day two came upon us some where between Indian Rock and

Beech Fork. On the way up Big Hell, JD was talking 14 hours

for loop three and arriving late at night. I didn't like

that kind of talk and wanted to make up for the slow time

through the night. Near the Chimney Top book, I told JD

that I was going to run hard down CTT and that I had come

to Barkley to see what I could do, not to finish the fun

run.

As usual, I was slow getting the last page stashed away

securely. I figure that it took two to three minutes for

each page, at least an hour for the three loops spent just

putting away pages. I need to improve on that next time,

but at least I didn't loose any pages.

To my surprise, JD was running a good pace down CTT. About

a third of the way down, I caught up and asked him not to

blow his quads because he still had another loop to go. For

some reason, running downhill has never bothered me, no

matter where or how fast.

JD let me pass and I finished loop two a little before he

did, again running the uphill between CTT and the yellow

gate. At the gate, someone from David White's group said,

"David White wants to know when you will be going out

again." I replied that I was leaving as soon as possible.

After a fast re-supply, and a quick meal, I headed back to

the yellow gate, but first admonished JD to get back out

and finish. On the CTT, I had told him that I was likely to

burn out on loop three and that he would pass me.

After checking out, I stopped by David's camp and found him

in sandals and obviously unprepared to go. I asked how long

before he could be ready, and he said 15 or 20 minutes. I

told him I couldn't wait and left. I learned later that JD

also stopped and was willing to wait for him, but David

told him to go on.

On Sunday after Barkley was over, Andrew came over to talk

with me and we got on the subject of David White. I

mentioned that he did not look well after the second loop.

Andrew said that he was scared because during the night he

had slipped off the trail at the Gorges and his feet had

dangled over the edge with him holding onto a log.

Wednesday before the race, I had helped JD put a log across

a section of the old RR bed that had slid off leaving a

100-foot drop within inches of the trail. JD had followed

Ed Furtaw too far left descending the LBS the year before

and had almost gone over when he jumped onto the trail from

the uphill bank, landing with nothing in front of his

flashlight. I wondered if JD had saved David from a fall by

putting that log there.

Back to loop three: I ran to the CTT and powered up to CT

in 1:20 from the yellow gate. I felt good and optimistic in

meeting my goal of getting back in 36 hours or less (i.e.

10:40 or less for loop 3).

I had taken longer for loop one, about 11:30, but I had

lost time on Stallion Mt, and felt that a CCW would be

easier than a CW in daylight. Why? Because, I thought the

ascent of Zip Line and LBS would be easier than the ascent

of Big Hell, Little Hell, and Rat's Jaw, and that the

direction of the North Section wouldn't make much

difference in the daylight.

After leaving CT, I made my first serious mistake. I

followed pink ribbons down to the South ridge instead of

taking a SE compass heading. It was a stupid thing to do

and I began to realize it as I went down. I had

rationalized it by thinking that some of the front runners

had taped the course on loop two to help on the CCW loop.

There seemed to be some evidence for this because at night,

JD and I had found the log structure marked with reflective

tape.

I cut back to the left trying to get on course again by

searching for the abandoned trail traversing Hell at about

1900 to 2100 feet of elevation. I found a branch as I

worked left and assumed that it was Low Gap and decided to

follow it to the Beech Fork.

In fact, I had found the next branch west of Low Gap.

Realizing this on reaching the Beech Fork, I corrected by

crossing the Beech Fork and following the jeep road east to

where it crosses the Beech Fork. From there, I worked my

way back to the hollow beech book following the CW course.

There, I found Matt and Bill Johnson, still on loop two.

They didn't seem to notice that I had approached from the

same direction that they had.

I started up Zip Line and realized from the tracks how many

people were following the Beech Fork up to the creek from

Matt Fields rather than taking a more direct approach on

JD's route to the right. I was almost tempted to try the

normal route, but decided to stick with JD's route since I

had done it before.

I was beginning to slow on the Zip Line ascent, but was

still hopeful of making the third loop in close to 36

hours. I had no difficulty with the section from Indian

Knob to the top of Little Hell, but I did stop for half a

minute on the climb up the Lookout Tower Road to the Little

Hell descent to admire a particular rock formation. I could

clearly see the head of a mountain lion, in stone, about 10

or 20 feet high along the rock out cropping above the road.

I thought it must have been sculpted by Indians, but then I

realized that it had to be a hallucination, and went on.

Going down Little Hell, I became concerned upon reaching

the 2300' elevation bench, and not recognizing anything.

Again, I had failed to take a compass reading before

descending. Worse yet, instead of looking at my map and

determining that I should be heading off the center of the

bench, I went off the left end because I recalled that JD

had been concerned about descending too far to the right.

As I approached the New River, I could not see the stand of

pine at the stockades and so I veered further left. That's

when I reached what I thought was the New River, but not

recognizing it, I almost started upstream. Finally, I had

the sense to consult my map and altimeter and realized that

I was at the Sugarcamp Branch. As far as I know, I'm the

first to ever do this.

In retrospect, it seems that I pulled out my map only when

unsure of myself AND faced with an uphill climb. If I were

unsure and could continue downhill, it seemed I was too

willing to take a chance.

I backtracked along the New River on an abandoned road

until I saw the gorges just below the Log Structure and

recognized the log that JD and I had placed there. It was

almost 100 feet above me on the other side of the river. By

then, I had similar cliffs and waterfalls between me and

the "Stockades" at the bottom of Little Hell. Rather than

climb back up, I crossed the New River, and followed it

through the Gorges to the old RR embankments and crossed

the New River again. From there I could reach the Stockades

like I would in a CW loop.

Back on course, I had no trouble to Bobcat Rock, but was

beginning to feel there was little hope of finishing in 36

hours, although 37 or 38 hours seemed reasonable. Running

along Coal Road I reached the wrong meadow. I almost turned

back, but decided to follow it further in the hope of

reaching Coffin Spring (CS) or the Garden Spot (GS). I

found prints from running shoes, but finally gave up and

turned back to find where I had missed a fork in the Coal

Road. The foot prints were probably mine from loop one.

Somehow, I missed the fork on the way back, and would have

gone all the way to the Barley Mouth, except that to my

amazement, I saw JD coming toward me. I said, "John, you're

going the wrong way." He replied, "No, you're going the

wrong way." And of course, he was right. JD told me I

missed the fork and so I joined him on the way to CS.

I was in no hurry to finish having missed any possible

chance at finishing in 36 hours. JD let me lead the way

from CS to the GS to make sure I knew the way. We discussed

cutting the switchbacks down to the Coal Ponds, but I had

enough exploring for one (two?) days and voted to stick

with them.

We followed the switchbacks all the way to a traverse above

the Coal Ponds, a route that only JD seemed to know. I call

it the DeWalt Detour, but need to think of a better name

since JD doesn't like that.

Time was slipping away, so I pressed the pace trying to

make Bald Knob by nightfall. It was dark by the time we

reached Rayder Creek, so we did well. I had hoped to make

Phillips Creek in 37 hours, but we reached it in about 37.5

hours. That left us 2.5 hours for the ascent and descent of

Bird Mt. We powered up Bird Mt and ran down easily

finishing under 40 hours.

Toward the finish, JD suggested a tie, but I knew there

could be no tie at Barkley, and insisted that he finish

first. We argued a bit and almost stopped before reaching

the gate. So, I took John's hand and forced him to touch

the gate first.

It had been a surprise to meet JD on the Coal Road on loop

three, because as much as I had been off course, I really

expected that he had passed me. He deserves to place above

me at Barkley, because he is a master at the art of finding

the quickest or easiest way to get from one book to

another.

From my CCW practice loop with JD, I had learned where to

find the books, but I had missed something just as

important. That was the necessity of being able to navigate

from book to book in the least time or effort. I had

gleaned a little of this knowledge because at LBS, I knew

to look for the rock bridge, cross it, find the next big

rock, and sight uphill, west to a dead tree. This is the

type of cross-country navigation that JD uses, and it puts

him exactly where he wants to be on the ascents or

descents.

It was an easy fun run (60 mile) finish. The weather had

been good, cool and not too wet. I was amazed that Blake

and Mike, and especially Dave had RTC'd. My goal had been

to go as far as I could, and I did that. Maybe their goals

had been to finish the 100, and when it became obvious to

them that they couldn't, they stopped. I would have been

thrilled to be the second person to ever start a fourth

loop like Dave did, but I hope that I would have finished

any loop that I started even if over the time limit.

There are several things I have learned about Barkley and

what I believe will be required to finish the 100. These

are that you must:

1. know the course

2. know the shortest or easiest route to the books

3. be prepared to run for 60 hours or more

4. be selfish enough to have a complete disregard for those

who might be waiting for you to finish (family and friends

and especially GC)

5. be in physical condition adequate to climb 50,000 feet

and descend the same

6. be able to go over, under, and through blow downs,

vines, and sawbriers without damaging muscles or ligaments

that are not accustomed to crawling, stooping, slipping,

sliding, and jumping

7. know that it is possible

Item number two was my downfall.

After finishing the fun run, I chatted with GC at the gate

and told him that I would have continued with loop four if

I had been permitted to do so. I also told him that I feel

I am capable of finishing the 100. I didn't say that I

would be back however, because I think I need to retire

from ultra running to spend more time with my wife and

children.

GC came over to my camp to get the pages that JD and I had

forgotten to turn in on the last loop. Then he returned

them to us as a souvenir. There are too many pages to

frame, so I think that maybe I'll bind them into my own

Barkley Book.

One of the first things I did was to take a shower. After

I stepped out of the shower stall, my friend, John Paul,

handed me his cell phone and my wife was on the line. I

told her I did my best and was not unhappy with it. She

asked if Dave Horton was going out for a fifth loop, so I

asked him since he was just getting out of the next shower

stall, and replied, "No, he's done." It wasn't until later

that I learned that he had not finished the fourth loop.

While I was still drying off, DH said, "Whose tooth paste

is this?"

"It's mine", I replied, and added, "I'll bet you have my

toothbrush too." He did, and dug it out of his travel bag,

explaining that he thought his wife had bought him a new

one. "That's all right, I'll have it bronzed and keep it as

a Barkley souvenir, a toothbrush that Dave Horton used.

Monday I met GC on his way out of the campground headed

for home. He stopped to talk for a moment and thanked me

for the use of my tent and sleeping bag Sunday night when I

went into Hariman to sleep at my friend, John Paul's

105-year-old house in Hariman. GC mentioned that he had

heard that I was running Barkley, Hardrock, and Badwater

this year. He said it sounds like a "Damn Slam". It was

then that I realized that I could think about something

besides Barkley again, but first, I had to write it all

down.

Man oh man, what a lot of living crammed into 40 hours,

and I don't think I've written the half of it. Just think,

if I could avoid a few mistakes, I could get 50% more for

my $1.55 entry fee!

Regards,

Fred Vance

fred_vance@moldev.com

Barkley, April 4, 1998: 60 miles, 39:23:xx

Hardrock, July 10, 1998

Badwater, July 16, 1998